MEETING WITH NATURE ARCTIC FAMILY: IN LOVE WITH COLD
[VO] The Franz Josef Land archipelago is the northernmost part of Russia and the farthest from the continent.
[VO] The North Pole is just 900 kilometres away.
[VO] And in Arctic terms, that's barely any distance at all.
[VO] This also happens to be the northernmost nature reserve.
[Tamara Molodtsova 'Russian Arctic' National Park]
[Tamara] There are no real colours here, it's mostly white,
only white.
[Tamara] But it has different shades:
there's blue, grey, pure white or pearly.
[Tamara] Our son-in-law was the first to work in the 'Russian Arctic'.
[Tamara] Then they needed instructors, and invited my husband to join.
[Tamara] So in 2011 they went to the islands,
and they liked it.
[Tamara] And next year...
they needed a medical worker who could also cook!
[VO] The weather in Franz Joseph Land can be extremely capricious.
[VO] Wind speed and direction can change by the minute.
[VO] The very lowest temperature was minus 52 degrees Celsius and winter means the long polar night.
[VO] It's summer now, which means the sun won't set again until August.
[Igor Molodtsov, 'Russian Arctic' National Park]
[Igor] Last winter was freezing and very windy.
[Igor] The cold wind got into the building
the inside temperature was below zero!
[Igor] We kept watch...
around the clock to be sure there were no emergencies.
[Tamara] I was against it, of course.
[Tamara] I had no idea about the conditions...
or difficulties.
[Tamara] But then I came to have a look...
and I liked it very much!
what first amazed me...
was probably the endless ocean,
that you see as you sail,
when the sky and the sea are same colour.
[Tamara] And then a bear!
[Tamara] It was so very serene and sedate,
it makes you think that humans aren't in charge, but the bears!
[Vladimir] They're like kids, they come close...
because they want treats,
they love condensed milk and ice-cream!
[Vladimir] Look, he's standing! Well done!
[Vladimir] He's asking for treats!
They're only given treats, not food, or they'd stop hunting.
[Vladimir Korshunov, Captain, 'Polar king' cargo ship]
[Vladimir] Right now the Arctic is being opened up.
[Vladimir] This is the northernmost outpost, the edge of the world.
[Vladimir] There's construction and freight all over the Arctic.
[Vladimir] We're restoring it, we basically abandoned the Arctic,
and weather stations, so many people worked here!
[Vladimir] The Northern Sea Route is the best way from west to east,
so if we don't develop it now, someone else will!
[Man] Taiga, taiga - Leopard!
[Voice] Taiga receiving!
[Man] I'm in position. No indication of a border breach.
[Man] Do you copy?
[Voice] Message received.
[Man] Out.
[Man] Ships often come here,
and aero planes,
and lots of people ...
arrive on them too,
all that must be checked, monitored and controlled.
[VO] A transport plane brings a new group of builders to Franz Joseph Land.
[VO] They're constructing a new town for military personnel.
[Igor] The people who come here are military not civilian,
counter-intelligence or something...
[Man] Many countries interested in the Arctic gather intelligence.
[Man] We must always be alert.
[Man] We can't just leave things!
[VO] They're working on a project to build a whole town with a new airfield and storage facilities for fuel.
[VO] There''ll be electric saunas and well-equipped fitness centres.
[VO] And for the first time ever, the residents of Franz Joseph Land
will enjoy the benefit of a local telephone network as well as internet hot-spots.
[Igor] I never imagined I'd have to go to the Arctic.
[Igor] I was invited to work here.
[Igor] After one posting in Franz Joseph Land,
I decided to return the next year.
[Igor] You get hooked on the Arctic.
[Igor] We live as one family.
[Igor] To live peacefully in the team,
you need to do your best,
be ready to contribute to the common good.
[Igor] We have 10 people living here now...
national park inspectors.
[Igor] We make four trips, 1 every 3 days.
[Igor] We bring about 1.5 tons.
[Igor] We use about 500L of water a day.
[Igor] The water's clean!
[Igor] Tamara and I are invited here for technical support.
[Igor] Tamara keeps busy with cooking,
and she monitors the personnel's health.
[Tamara] A woman in the Arctic is like a mother.
[Tamara] Everyone has to be fed, so they're full and don't fall ill.
[Tamara] Men are like children...
[Tamara] They're children!
[Tamara] You need to...
need to love them.
[Tamara] Is Yury up? [Man] Yes, he's getting ready.
[Tamara] He's moving? [Man] Yeah.
[Tamara] Right, choose.
[Man] Fish soup?
[Tamara] Your favourite.
[Tamara] And the chicken's here.
[Tamara] Don't!
[Tamara] I don't know why, but I was scared,
when I first saw a bear's eyes up close.
[Tamara] It gave us a nasty look through the window.
[Tamara] But when I looked into a bear's eyes the next year,
I could see it's fully-conscious...
not stupid!
[Viktor Tirsky, Inspector, 'Russian Arctic' National Park]
[Viktor] It's a curious animal.
[Viktor] It wants to see and know everything.
[Viktor] It'll come closer to look around.
[Viktor] You just need to be respectful
and not get cocky.
[Viktor] After all, we're the guests.
[Viktor] It's bear territory, they're in charge.
[Tamara] Come here, Makhonya!
[Viktor] Igor, this is Viktorovich.
[Viktor] We're coming, ok? [Igor] Ok.
[Viktor] Understood.
[VO] Viktor Tirsky has come from a neighbouring island where he works as a mechanic at a weather station.
[VO] He's taken a holiday to try his hand as a nature reserve inspector.
[VO] Amongst his many responsibilities is preventing bear attacks against humans.
[Viktor] In 2011, a bear ate a worker,
at an outpost on Heiss Island.
[Viktor] It dragged him about 20m from where it had attacked him.
[Viktor] When they lit the area with flares,
they saw the bear eating the guy...
[Viktor] They shot at it and drove it away.
[Viktor] Old or sick bears will attack humans to save effort.
[Viktor] Humans are...
the easiest prey for them.
[Viktor] Shut the door! Get rid of the cat!
[Viktor] Only true admirers of the Arctic come here.
[Viktor] Your mum and dad won't be here, you must rely on yourself.
[Viktor] It's a harsh climate,
but there is unique beauty here:
icebergs, walruses, whales, seals, bears...
[Viktor] Many things...
most people never get a chance to see.
[Viktor] When people ask, I say I'm a big fan of this job!
[Vladimir] We transport vehicles and equipment weighing 30 tons and more.
[Vladimir] It's dangerous for that reason.
[Vladimir] A lot depends on the weather.
[Vladimir] If it's windy, high seas rock the ship,
and that moves the cargo.
[Vladimir] Cargo displacement is very dangerous.
[Man] Mist...
[Nikolay] 84cm.
[Nikolay] Today we're busy making preparations,
for the ship to moor.
[Nikolay] We're expecting to unload heavy equipment, which will be near the weight limit,
so we have to be extra careful.
[Nikolay Kubyshkin, Hydrologist]
[Nikolay] We bored a hole and can see that the upper layer is fine,
as hard as in winter.
[Nikolay] The risks linked to ice-breakers,
are cracks and crevasses appearing,
anything that hampers unloading.
[Nikolay] In this case, we'll cut five slits:
one axial, two auxiliary and two at the sides.
[Nikolay] The arrival time depends on the condition of the ice along the route.
[Nikolay] We're expecting it by evening, but who knows?
[Nikolay] Like in the film, the hardest part of our job, is waiting!
[VO] Mooring is when tensions are at their highest for everyone:
the crew, the hydrologists who calculated the route almost down to the centimeter,
and the people who anxiously await the cargo.
[Voice] Should we crack the second edge too?
[Nikolay] No, you won't reach it.
[Voice] Agreed, we won't reach it.
[VO] First of all, and using marks made by hydrologists, the ice-breaker cuts a channel for the ice-class cargo ship.
[VO] As the ship enters the bay, one mistake could make unloading impossible,
and that would be a serious disaster!
[VO] The cargo ship 'Polar King' carefully follows the ice-breaker into the bay.
[Vladimir] We had trouble entering the bay,
as the left edge was not prepared,
and would throw us back.
[Vladimir] We tried to keep close to it,
but when you push on it you get thrown back.
[Vladimir] With metre-thick ice, we simply got moved back!
[Vladimir] So we had to enter, then steer the ship clear at the last moment!
[Nikolay] Will he get out of there or not?
[VO] There have been times when ice-breakers tried two or even three times to go against the ice!
[VO] A lot depends, of course, on the captain's skill.
[Vladimir] This time, it was tough.
[Vladimir] A slit had been cut to the right.
[Vladimir] If we'd gone in, unloading would have been impossible.
[Vladimir] We'd have spoilt the whole area.
[Vladimir] But we can unload from both sides, and that's a good thing.
[VO] Unloading directly onto the ice is the most convenient way to deliver heavy equipment to remote Arctic islands on time.
[VO] Unloading onto floating rigs, when ice melts or isn't become firm enough yet, takes much more time.
[VO] Here you can fully unload the ship in two days,
if the weather is fine and there are no accidents.
[VO] Crevices, that appear as an icebreaker pushes through, are particularly dangerous.
[Vladimir] The Arctic doesn't accept everyone.
[Vladimir] Not everyone can work in extreme conditions.
[Vladimir] It happened on our last trip.
[Vladimir] We'd finished unloading,
everyone had already left,
it was the bulldozer driver's fault.
[Vladimir] He was tidying and got too close to the ship's stern,
where there were cracks.
[Vladimir] He tried to save the vehicle by reversing.
[Vladimir] A second driver ran to pull him out,
but the first guy wanted to save the bulldozer.
[Vladimir] They fought for so long
that they both slid off the ice
and they went down.
[Vladimir] The ice closed above them.
[Viktor] You don't think about dying.
[Viktor] Work is work.
[Viktor] No one knows what will happen.
[Viktor] You just need to be attentive,
and keep in mind that the weather changes 6 or 7 times a day.
[VO] Thick mist, low cloud, rain or snow and strong winds;
that's the weather in Franz Joseph Land all year round.
[VO] There have been several air crushes throughout the history of the archipelago's development.
[VO] The most recent was now almost 25 years ago.
[VO] Since then, people have learned a lot and are still learning.
[VO] There's a new air-strip, it's operational from August to April
and in 2016, yet another landing strip will be built,
at more than 3 kilometres long it will be the longest in the Arctic, and it will be open all year-round.
[Igor] Now we'll set fire to all this.
[Igor] When I first came to the Arctic,
I saw a huge amount of metal:
barrels...
containers, discarded equipment.
[Igor] It was painful to see.
[Igor] Now we burn all the waste created by human activity.
[Igor] We burn whatever we can.
[Igor] Whatever can't be burnt is sent to the mainland and utilised.
[Vladimir] Now a program is underway to clean the Arctic.
[Vladimir] The area will be cleaned, because polar bears are turning black!
[Vladimir] We really don't want that.
[Vladimir] On the past two voyages, we started working on it.
[Vladimir] Now we take all the metal away, crushed into 50cm3 cubes,
and 'big bags', as they're called.
[Vladimir] We collect all the waste and spoil,
and transport it to be used on the mainland.
[Vladimir] It's a great program, and I'm glad the Arctic is being cleaned at last.
[Vladimir] The hardest part is waiting, and catching-up
[Vladimir] This evening, we'll have been waiting for the ice-breaker for two whole days.
[Vladimir] But the ice situation is tricky.
[Vladimir] The ice-breaker is now helping the 'Captain Tkachyov', it's larger than us.
[Vladimir] Usually I play as a forward,
but I kept goal because these boots were very uncomfortable, slippery.
[Vladimir] We play all the time, on the ice, anywhere.
[Vladimir] I like football and volleyball. I just like sport.
[VO] Everyone who works in Franz Joseph Land tries to make the most of each ship's visit.
[VO] When unloading is over, the 'Polar King' will take away the workers whose shifts have ended,
and new staff arrive to replace them.
[VO] That's how it is all year round.
[Igor] After the shift,
we'll soon be home.
[Tamara] Not long to go, just five days of rolling...
[Igor] We haven't been in the Arctic that much.
[Igor] It's just our fifth placement.
[Igor] We're building a house on the mainland, Arkhangelsk.
[Igor] We've put our hearts into it.
[Igor] We need to get it finished.
[Vladimir] 'Polar King' can proceed.
[Voice] Ok, full speed ahead!
[Voice] Right, we're leaving dock.
[Vladimir] Now all countries are fighting for the Arctic,
as this is where all the riches are.
[Vladimir] There's talk that the Northern Sea Route should be made international,
although it goes along our territory.
[Vladimir] Our northernmost border outpost is in Franz Joseph Land.
[Vladimir] We're really settling in the Arctic.
[Vladimir] Our expedition has proved the Lomonosov ridge
is a continuation of Russian territory,
and therefore the shelf is ours.
[Viktor] Fall in love with the Arctic, and you'll never betray it,
like a woman you love, better.
[VO] Viktor Tirsky will only see his wife on the continent again after another month.
[Viktor] Almost every day before or after work, I go on Skype.
[Viktor] Once she said: 'I'd have killed you long ago, but I signed for you at the wedding'.
[Viktor] I liked that!
[Voice] Your orders are to guard the border!
[Voice] Your duty is to patrol.